Kneeland.] 88 [February 21 
selves. The summits enclosing the basins of the glaciers are steeper 
on the north than on the south side, on account of the greater depth 
and duration of the ice sheltered frora the sun; and this difference 
in steepness between the north and south sides of summits is greater 
in the lower, as those of the Obelisk group. Such mountains as 
Starr King, Cloud’s Rest, Cathedral Peak, etc., do not come under 
this general law, as their contours were determined by the ice which 
flowed about and above them; but even among these inter-basin 
mountains we frequently find a marked difference in steepness be- 
tween their north and south sides, because many of the higher of 
these, and crests extending east and west, continued to shelter and 
to nourish fragmentary small glaciers long after the disappearance of 
the main stream to which they belonged. 
“Jn ascending any of the principal streams of this region, lakes in 
all stages of decay are found in great abundance, gradually becoming 
smaller and more recent until we reach the almost countless ones of 
the summits. Upon the main Merced and its branches there are not 
less than a hundred of these lakes, from a mile to a hundred yards in 
diameter, with many more of much smaller’size. Both Yosemite and 
Hetch-Hetchy valleys are lake basins filled with sand, and the mat- 
ter of moraines abundantly and rapidly supplied by their swift de- 
scending rivers from upper moraines. 
‘The mountains above Yosemite have scarcely been touched by 
any other denudation than that of ice; perhaps all of the post-glacial 
denudation of every kind would not average an inch in thickness for 
the whole region. I am surprised to find that water has had so little 
to do with mountain structure in this region. None of the upper 
Merced streams give record of floods greater than those of to-day. 
A cross section of the glacial and water basin of the Nevada brarich 
of the Merced, a few miles above the little Yosemite, shows glacial 
striz, clear and unwashed, with undisturbed glacial drift nearly to 
the water channel of the river, whose perpendicular walls are about 
two feet deep; this stream even in flood was never more than five 
feet in depth, showing a water area, as compared with the ice stream, 
utterly insignificant.” 
With the licht of Mr. Muir’s observations, it seems to me that the 
formation of this valley — not have been due to the action of 
water or of ice. 
The characteristic feature of this valley is the concentric structure 
of the granite, as seen in the ‘“ Domes” and “ Arches.” According to . 
